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BUG REPORT: Dolby Digital Problem?

Just hung up with a level 2 921 tech who said that my problem was a "known issue" and would be addressed in the next upgrade.

Since I read this forum daily, I wonder why I have never seen a complaint or question on this topic.

My 921 does not decode dolby digital. I have 2 721's and a dishplayer all connected to my Yamaha receiver with optical cables and except for the 921, all receive dolby digital when it is contained in the programming selected.

Is this a known issue? Is everybody having this problem or was I given the brush off from a busy tech?

(...)My 921 does not decode dolby digital. I have 2 721's and a dishplayer all connected to my Yamaha receiver with optical cables and except for the 921, all receive dolby digital when it is contained in the programming selected.(...)

The 921 is able to take the Dolby Digital bitstream out of received content and sent it out via the optical output. This does have some quirks and bugs, such as sometimes it drops the signal for a split-second, which causes some stereos to mute the input, and it doesn't like to down-mix the Dolby Digital to PCM. However, in general terms, the 921 is able to send the Dolby Digital signal out to the stereo and this works correctly. On my system, the appropriate lights light up on the stereo display indicating 2 or 5.1 channel Dolby Digital.

As far as "decoding" Dolby Digital, well, technically this is a separate operation. Usually "Dolby Digital decoding" is the act of taking a Dolby Digital signal and breaking it apart into 6 discrete analog signals, each of which can then be sent to another device or to speakers. The 921 doesn't do this, but then it doesn't need to; it has an optical output, so the stereo at the other end of the output does the decoding.

You might want to double check on your stereo that you are listening to the digital/optical input for that source (rather than the analog inputs). Then make sure you're tuned to a channel with Dolby Digital audio (actually OTA digital channels are good for this).